hi-so I am in the process of trying to find a doctor that won't fob me off regarding my postpartum (suspected) thyroid issues here in Chile. Meanwhile I am simply in need of some encouragement with my diet. I am trying to stick to my Swami but I get these huge doubts everytime I have stuff like rice flour, or even rice, or cheese. I want to know how is everybody doing with their Swami? It is worth following right? I know I can't expect miracles right now but it would be nice to hear that this something I want to put myself 100% into.

I was on BTD for way longer then Swami.. I stayed with mostly Super Beneficials, and BeneficiLS.. only a few cheats.. just enough to make me feel as if I can make my own choices.

I think each person is her own master. To beginn with KNOW and REPEAT all day:

I KNOW that this WILL pass.

Then switch to: 'I' know this will pass.

or

I KNOW this will pass.

This will PASS.

I will be ok after a while I know this will pass.

Post this on every wall ... make a wish board.. cut out every picture that means anything to you and past it on the board.. \\

Remind you and your inner self that you are strong and you can overcome.

Life is not easy.. but after you come through a bad time you will have learned so much..

I know I have been through bad times and it is frustrating.. a deep hole to come out of .. but come out you will.

Keep sharing, keep talking, keep trusting that eating as best as you can is still better than what you ate before.. NO need to be 100%.

Doing the things that make sense to you right now is ok, even if it is not on Swami.. Your body is going to need adjustment time for your current life, for your tomorrow life... and nothing is forever.

You will be healthy soon enough, and you will make changes, some good some perfect and still others that will be less perfect. Life is not perfect.. Life is to be lived as is.. good or bad..

Keep coming here and by all means if rice is ok then eat it you need all the food that is on Swami and all the foods you need just because you need it... for today and tomorrow, after that you will make choices, you will get better,, TRUST you.. trust that you will get past this. I believe in you.

Being here is invaluable, but not enough. We need ALL the Doctors. I needed them for a very small cancer spot-I could never feel!!! Please do your mammograms! Doing so saved me from cancer later on. I am grateful! Thanks for learning from my experience! I was lucky! I wish the same for YOU!

Be kind to everyone; be persistent with health!Autumn: Harvest, success.

Posts: 488

Gender: Female

Location: Sydney, N.S.W., Australia

Age: 53

I just found out via having a hair mineral analysis / heavy metal toxicity test that I have severe and possibly chronic mineral deficiencies and imbalances, plus heavy metal toxicity (copper, alumium and mercury) in my cells/tissues. Life is not easy as I now have a long healing road ahead of me, ie my nutrition, infra-red sauna therapy, supplements, coffee enemas, stress management, possibly having some of my dental fillings removed, etc. It is costly, and time consuming, but good health and prevention of more problems/other diseases is worth it, as we all need to take full responsibility for our lives, our healing and past trauma. Only then, can we achieve goals and be all that we are meant to be. The work we put in to our health and addressing food addiction or imbalances is well worth it. Thankyou to Dr D, and some other great minds (Dr Lawrence Wilson - Arizona, USA, Todd Lizon, D.C. here in Australia, who are helping me on the journey towards wellness and an easier life!

I've been on the diets BTD -> GTD -> SWAMI for over seven years. For me it is going only forwards! Never backwards! As time goes on it allows me to connect more and more to the good side of life, in ALL departments. I am working on healing my gut. When I eat right and problems vanish and health improves, there's definitely a sense of miracle and a very deep feeling of gratitude - this comes naturally.

About rice flour or any flour: if you are sensitive, I'd ditch these for the time being. When you make flour of grains, foreign stuff gets attached to it - I am ignorant here and can't tell what it may be, but I too feel awkward with rice flour. In the carbohydrates department I eat white basmati rice and rice cakes, which are swami superfoods, and hardly any other carbs. I prefer the cooked rice, because again, even if the organic rice cakes label says: "rice, salt", it is still a processed food, and I have no way to tell if anything else is in there.

How is quinoa rated in your swami?

Cheese is likely to create a problem for O. My swami lists few diamond & superfood cheeses. After years of repeated trials, most of the time I choose to ditch them altogether and feed on the other diamond/superfood proteins: eggs, veal, lamb, and FISH.

I'd recommend to turn your attention to and concentrate on your swami superfoods that make you feel well without a reservation. I am sure there is plenty of them - and try not to think, be it only for a while, about the foods which you find problematic for yourself. Make it a principle just to enjoy!

I have parmesan, pecorino and romano as diamonds - I get a lot of servings too! ALL types of rice and rice flour are superfoods for me, but not diamonds. Also quinoa is a superfood. I get a lot of servings of those too! I also get a lot of beans and lentils as superfoods. I certainly feel better on a higher carb diet - strange this type O I think. But the cheese I am not sure. Sometimes I feel a bit off after it. Right now I am day 3 no cheese and have a bit of a headache which might be withdrawal or might be anything else (period also came today).

I think I am finding out that I feel better with slightly less fat when I am increasing the carbs but certainly not low fat (UGH). I certainly seem to need all 3 macronutrients to feel good these days. I think my hormones took a hammering with pregnancy and possibly my thyroid too which is why I have been having problems with my weight (or rather not shifting back down if that makes sense). It is not surprising really....having a first baby at 36.

What I am very happy about is I do feel good with the diet - well MUCH better than on anything else I have tried.

Yes SquarePeg - rice seems fine for me. I do however need to eat bigger portions when eating more beans/rice or I get really hungry. But I do get energy from then rather than just conking out like I used to with wheat years ago.

Loops I had some beneficials in my SWAMI that I couldn't eat at first, that I could eat later. It's pretty much spot-on unless you find you just can't tolerate things such as grains or dairy or certain oils. If there are SWAMI items that are goitrogens you can omit them for now and be helping yourself with low thyroid supplements listed over on ithyroid.com.

I know how much it sucks to not find an endocrinologist that isn't biased. Try for a woman doctor first.

Mortal life is a stay in a vast hospital ward. (Eastern Orthodoxy +)

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential. (Churchill)

yeah regarding the cheese tell me about it! I get it nearly every day too - 3 oz as a guideline. Any other type Os have cheese as a diamond???

Tom - did you find any difference at all? My Swami is quite different from BTD - most of the beneficials for BTD are now neutrals. My diamond meats....I can't really get hold of here unfortunately - beef is still a superfood though.

Seraffa - yes, come to think of it i used to have a great gynae who seemed a lot more astute regarding endocrine problems - maybe she can point me in the right direction here in Chile. All my results come back as normal but it is not normal for me to have been gaining on this diet, and something is still off with me. I hope to find out soon!

Be kind to everyone; be persistent with health!Autumn: Harvest, success.

Posts: 488

Gender: Female

Location: Sydney, N.S.W., Australia

Age: 53

Hello everyone. Yes Possum, you may be right, I have definately stepped up the meat, plus fish, lamb, poultry, eggs. Soon, I will be taking some new supplements esp for people who's cellular oxidation is very slow, I think this is same as metabolism. To help strengthen my glands, esp thyroid and adrenals which Todd says should help me digest / absorb the proteins better, and therefore more minerals. I am also to start taking vitamin D, at least during the winter. I do make bone broth, but still worry about the fat, I don't know why. And I am eating cooked vegetables three times a day now and trying to make sure veggies are about 70% of my daily intake. yesterday I sat in a steam room/sauna at an aquatic centre, plus swam a few laps, and the heat from the steam room helped, as I was able to have a natural, fairly easy bowel motion after dinner last night which hasn't happened for a while - a deeply relaxing effect on the neuro-endocrine system. I am also trying to eat just three good meals a day now, and no snacking. I think the intestines need healing and cellular regeneration before I absorb nutrients really well. I also won't do any fasting after reading Dr L. Wilson's article on fasting, that can cause nutrient depletion too. I will keep going, as I know other people in my age group do well, provided they do the work needed. Others are talking about cheese, I prefer only to eat a little as I still feel it doesn't digest well and may interfere with mineral absorption. I don't think I want much casein or lactose in my system. bye for now.

why would the deflect be good for me? I mean I haven't eaten any lectins in...well...years! Seriously - before I was doing BTD I was doing low carb with just vegetables and almonds for carbs...for like 5 years...or is it good for something else too?

I am wondering if my PCOS is playing a part here. I have polycystic ovaries but do not have the elevated insulin or testosterone and was able to have a baby coincidentally after starting the BTD with lots of fruit added. But still....I do carry all my weight in my abdomen. It seems that maybe avoiding lectins and wheat etc isn't quite enough for me...not sure!

I'm curious, what cheese does SWAMI recommend for you, and whether they are superfoods are merely neutral. My only dairy superfood is ghee.

Avoiding your Neutrals is very important to hasten recovery from 'what ails you'. This was stated in Dr. D.'s book on Arthritis. I would think it would apply to any form of disease or ailment you are trying to overcome.

I'm becoming a true believer in my SWAMI. BUT, it is VERY important that you edit your SWAMI as accurately as you can. In your personal health history section, you may want to only check your main/worst problem instead of everything and anything else that may apply to you. Just a thought. But I did that when (after developing arthritis, an autoimmune disease) I wasn't getting any pain relief. After going in and unchecking everything EXCEPT autoimmune problems, voila! Pain level and freedom of movement went WAY UP!

well just for the sake of seeing what would happen I ticked the history of thyroid problems box, even though all my tests have come back 'normal'. I get even more cheeses as superfoods! Plus black beans are now a diamond. And of course all the meats I can't get here in Chile as diamonds.

brekky 2 cups green tea with 1 tsp agave or nothing at all pomegranate or other fruit small amount of fruit juice with lots of added water (like 100ml fj) a couple of fried eggs or a small bowl of meat/veg soup (leftovers)

lunch big bowl of meat/veg soup, or fish etc more fruit sometimes a bit of rice or a sweet potato herb tea more fruit juice (again, wildly diluted so not much)

snacks - well I get hungry so I have dried fruit sometimes - figs or some more fresh fruit. Occasionally nuts. I do indulge in a piece of dark chocolate every now and then too and am working on that one.

Dinner usually some sort of meat or fish. I was making fried hake (rice flour and olive oil) but have ditched that recently. Lots of veg, some olive oil, maybe some lentils or other beans. If I am eating cheese then I will eat a bit of parmesan. A glass of red wine usually too but not always. Occasionally we will order compliant sushi for dinner.

I generally eat to appetite of the diamond and superfoods because experience has taught me restricting food to whatever degree eventually leads to bingeing so I don't do that anymore.

so I was thinking of maybe ditching the rice and having more of my other diamonds instead - rice isn't a diamond but some other carby foods are like black beans (well now that I have ticked the thyroid box they are - before they were just superfood so I can't really go wrong there).